We don't. We will need a new roof in a year or two and have some repairs and updates we would like to do at that time. I'm going to try to save enough so that we don't have to get a home equity loan, but our budget is tight, so I don't know if we will or not. Both our vehicles will be paid in two years so we would have more money then if we do have to get the loan.

Home repairs and remodelling.

We've never had one, but have discussed that we might have to get one when our kids go to college to help with tuition costs. We only have about 8 years left on our mortgage, so I'm hoping we don't have to take one out. But I think (not sure) that that would be better financially since we could still write off the interest and we're locked into a fairly low rate. Will have to see though when the time comes.

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we had a second once and I will never do it again. What I a mistake.

I've considered it a couple of times to do some major home repairs/upgrades but both times I was better off just doing a total refinance with cash back instead of a home equity loan. At this point, I have built up enough in savings that any future improvements or repairs I would make I will do with cash and not refinance or get home equity loan again. Possible exception would be for my DS college - we'll see how things are in 10 years!

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.

We have one for 35,000. We used it for home improvements and to do a 80 20 mortgage. I really wished we didn't have the extra payment, but we do? Alot of people say it was a mistake, do you mind sharing why? Mine's for 15 years. But I do have people in my development maxed with Mortgages and Home Equity for pools, hot tubs and such that when something does go wrong they are so over extended they can't do anything or when something breaks they can't afford to fix it. Not how I want to live any more. !!!

If you have to relocate and sell your house you have to cover the cost of the mortgage and the loan. For me it was a mistake because we used it to pay off credit card debt and racked it back up again putting us farther into debt. Others have done it to pay off credit card debt and have the willpower not to rack it up again however.

We did when we lived in Northern VA. Our house there was "THE MONEY PIT". We dumped more money into that house the first year because every time we tried to fix something it became a "project". We took out a HELOC to pay for all the repairs and updates. We sold the house for double what we paid less than three years prior and moved out of the area. For us at the time it was the right thing to do. We have talked about doing it when our children go to college since we plan on carrying no mortgage by that time but it will depend on many factors and whether it will carry a tax break.

Nope

We took out an home equity loan 4 years ago to put an addition on our house. My husband inherited our house when his father passed away so we don't have a mortgage payment just the home equity loan. It was much cheaper for us to add on our existing house then to sell and buy another house.

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DS - 8
DD - 5